Chapter 7

Noah watched out his living room window as the sky darkened into dusk. He saw a black Chevrolet Suburban pull into a visitor's parking stall. A lanky woman in her mid sixties stepped out and headed toward his unit.

"Rachel!" he called. "It looks like Mom is here."

Rachel stepped from the kitchen in her shorts and tank. "Great. How are you going to intercept her and tell her that I'm carrying a load?"

The doorbell rang. Noah sprang to answer it. "Hi, Mom..."

"Noah..." She hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Come in," Noah said and gestured her inside. Rachel stepped to his side. "Mom -- this is Rachel. Rachel, my mother."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs Warren," Rachel said.

"Call me Meredith..."

"Rachel works at Hubbard's," Noah said. "Maybe the two of you could go in and do some shopping. Rachel gets a discount -- isn't that right?"

"That's right."

"Maybe," his mother replied. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"Are the bags in the car?" Noah asked. "I'll help you bring them in."

Noah and his mother headed for the Suburban. She took out a suitcase and pointed to a footlocker. "That's what I found in the attic."

He grabbed the leather handles on the ends, lifted it and carried it into the house. Once inside he set it on the living room floor. "I'll take this upstairs," he said and grabbed his mother's bag. She followed him as he climbed the stairs.

"I set up the futon as a guest bed," Noah said. "You know where the bathroom is. I think you're all set."

"Noah," she replied, sotto voce. "You didn't tell me that Rachel is pregnant."

"I ... uh ... wanted it to be a surprise."

"How long did you say you've known her?"

"We started dating in June."

"I've seen enough pregnant girls to know she must be in her fifth or sixth month. That means she conceived in April ... Early May at the latest."

"That's about what we figure," he replied.

"Who is the father?"

"We don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No. Neither of us knows."

"How can she not know? She had to have been there!" Her voice grew louder.

"It's a long story and I don't want to get into it right now, Mom."

"How can you be living with a woman who's carrying some other man's child?"

"It's simple. I love her and she loves me. The fact that she's pregnant is irrelevant to that love."

"It's just not right, Noah."

"You didn't have any issues when I was going out with Celia. She had someone else's three-year-old."

"That's different."

"How is it different, Mom?" He threw up his hands in exasperation. "Everyone tells me that it's different but no one can tell me HOW it's different. There's no difference to me."

"Is she going to keep the child?"

"We haven't decided that yet."

"What do you mean, we."

"Rachel has decided to defer that decision and we have yet to discuss it."

"Noah -- you can't get wrapped up in this. How you could fall for a ... a loose woman who doesn't even know the name of the man who fathered her child is beyond me."

"Mom -- I'm old enough to live my own life and to choose my own girlfriends."

"You're right, you're right. It's none of my business. If she's the woman you picked, who am I to second-guess your selection?"

Noah stalked into the bedroom. Rachel was stuffing clothes and toiletries into a suitcase. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm packing."

"Why are you packing?"

"Because of the excellent way you explained to your mother my situation. I overheard some of what she said about me, Noah. It played out pretty much how I predicted it would. I will not stay under the same roof with her. I know when I'm not welcome."

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my old place."

"But -- there's no furniture. We took all that out."

"Then I'll go to a motel or something." She looked at him. "Don't worry, Noah. When she leaves I'll be back. You can have your weekend with your mother. Just count me out of it!"

Rachel closed up her case. She picked it up by the handle, carried it downstairs and headed for the door.

Noah ran after her. "Rachel -- please stay."

"No."

"Will you at least call when you get settled and tell me where you are? So I won't worry about you."

"I'll do that, Noah."

He watched her head out the door and put her bag in the trunk of her car.

"What was that all about?" his mother asked.

Noah spun to face her. "God damn it, Mom! Rachel heard some of what you said. She's going to a motel or something."

"Couldn't you stop her?"

"I asked her to stay. She refused. What else could I have done? Barred the door? Knock her around a bit? Take her over my knee? How would that help?"

"Noah ... I'm sorry."

"She's recovering from being hurt, Mom. She did not need this to remind her."

"Why don't you tell me the whole story?"

"There's not much to tell. Rachel was picked up in a singles' bar by a guy who seduced her and then left her. She thought she was done with him but learned she was pregnant. When she tried to contact him she discovered he gave her a phony name, phony phone number, and so on."

"But, Noah -- how do you figure into this?"

He sighed. "That is too long and complicated a story to go into now. Suffice to say our paths crossed and we connected. Mom -- Rachel was ready to give up on men. She was ready to have an abortion."

"Why on earth didn't she?"

"We talked about it. She wanted to know my philosophy and I told her I thought she'd be robbing the future of her child's destiny. She agreed with me and decided to carry the pregnancy to term."

"And you agreed to support her."

"I love her. Of course I'll support her. I would've supported her if she had decided to terminate the pregnancy. It's probably too late, now."

"Borderline too late from a legal sense. I doubt you could find a doctor willing to perform it." Meredith nodded in approval. "It's something noble you two are undertaking, Noah. I don't know where you get that sort of character. Certainly not from your father."

"What about Rachel's character? I think part of this is her attempt to redeem herself."

"From what?"

"She hasn't had an easy life and she's made some mistakes. Getting pregnant wasn't the worst of them. She's a good person who went astray and is searching for the right path."

"Noah ... I am so sorry. I wish she had given me a second chance."

"She's pregnant, Mom. I think the stress and the hormones have made her nothing but raw nerves and emotion."

She nodded. "I can understand that."

"Mom -- I should've told you all this when you called. You sort of blindsided me."

"I wish you had. Now I feel terrible."

Noah paced his living room. He looked out the window, checked his watch and paced more. "I wish she would call."

"Have you tried her cell?" his mother asked.

"It goes straight to voicemail which means either she's in a blackout area or it's not switched on."

"I'm sure she's fine, Noah. You should consider no news as good news." She popped the latches on the footlocker. "While we're waiting, why not look at this stuff I found in the attic?"

"Fine." Noah flipped open the lid. "Mom -- these are old school projects." He picked up an object. "This is the electric motor made from nails, wire and a cork." He picked up another. "The model of a Roman aqueduct. I thought all this stuff had been tossed."

"Those are projects your father helped you with," she replied.

"No -- these are projects he did himself while I stood and watched. He never helped me because he never let me put my hands on anything. How am I supposed to learn that way? If I ever have a kid, I won't do anything like that."

"If you ever have a kid, Noah, you will do exactly as your dad did. We learn to be moms and dads from our moms and dads."

"Something needs to be done to stop the insanity." He picked up another artifact. "The Morse code sounder. I don't want any of this stuff, Mom. You shouldn't have bothered with it."

"Your dad thought it was important."

"More important to him than to me." His landline phone rang. "That must be Rachel." He picked it up. "Hello."

Is this Noah Warren? asked an unfamiliar voice.

"Yes."

Do you know Rachel Drummond?

Noah felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Yes, I do."

She's at Mercy Hospital in the emergency department. She was brought here by ambulance -- apparently she was in an automobile accident. She's asking for you.

"I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and stared at his mother. "I have to go. Rachel's in the hospital -- an auto accident."

"I'm coming with you."

Noah dashed to his car and started the engine. He slammed it into reverse, backed out of his carport and peeled out toward the street.

"Careful, Noah," his mother said. "We don't need two accidents in one evening. What did they say?"

"Only that she came in by ambulance and she's asking for me."

"If she's asking for you then she's at least conscious. That's a good sign."

"Mom -- I will never forgive you if anything happens to her."

"I'll never forgive myself." Noah stopped at a red light. He tapped his fingers on the wheel and nudged closer to the stop line. "Your father used to do that when he was impatient behind the wheel."

The light changed and he floored it. Noah pulled into the hospital's emergency lot and dashed into the building. "I'm looking for Rachel Drummond," he said to a nurse at the emergency department desk.

"She's not here any more," another nurse said. "They took her upstairs."

"What's upstairs? Surgery?"

"Patient rooms," the first nurse said. "She's in room four-fifteen. Orange elevator."

"Hurry," he said to his mother as he sprinted to the elevator.

"I'm not as spry as I once was," she said as she lagged behind.